


Shortcuts and Golden Slumbers

by Karasuya



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-26 22:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/971194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karasuya/pseuds/Karasuya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The most unlikely of sources provides Roy with respite from the restless melancholy his life has become ever since Edward's disappearance.  Hints of Roy/Ed. Post 2003 series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shortcuts and Golden Slumbers

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this ficlet while listening to the song, "Cornerstone", by the Arctic Monkeys.
> 
> The lyrics can be viewed at the very end of the story.
> 
> All credit for this piece I give to the Arctic Monkeys!

"Where to, Chief?"

 

Roy glances up to meet Havoc's inquiring blue gaze in the review mirror.

 

"Take me home, Lieutenant."

 

Roy averts his eye towards the dark, rain-spattered window and vaguely registers Havoc's reply.

 

"You got it, Sir."

 

Listening to the sound of the cold rain pattering against the surface of the car, Roy closes his eye, giving in to the familiar weariness that seems to weigh down upon his mind and body more and more each day.  It doesn't help that he feels damp and chilled from the downpour, but also the comforting warm buzz he had acquired from a long evening of clinking glasses and rubbing elbows with the brass was now leaving him feeling listless and empty.  He wants nothing more than a warm shower to wash away the bitter chill from his bones.  If he's lucky, he might just have enough alcohol left in his system to save him from his usual struggle with insomnia.  As Havoc pulls the car away from the curb, Roy decides that the sooner he gets home the better.  While pulling on his seat-belt, Roy begins to suggest a couple of shortcuts to Havoc, only to stop short when his breath gets caught in his throat.

 

Suddenly, the darkness of the night does not feel so oppressive, for he catches a whiff of a scent that is a stark contrast to the dismal rain and the gloomy rumbling thunder. No, this aroma is of warm summer, all beaming rays of sunlight and golden sunflowers. Allablaze like the dazzling sun itself _—_

 

 

 

_Like radiant golden hair, and rare flashing golden eyes—_

 

 

 

"Sir?"

 

Roy is jolted back to reality where he finds himself once again shrouded by the dreary darkness of the night and the bleak pelting of the rain.  With an aching tightness growing in his chest, he casts a hasty glance around himself, searching and longing for any remaining traces of that blissful shinning vision.  His futile hope fades away as his eyesight only meets dense shadows and the passing dim blurs of the streetlamps that line the cold and lonely wet streets of Central.

 

"General?" Havoc attempts once again to grasp his superior's attention.

 

"What is it?" Roy replies gruffly, irritated that he was snatched so abruptly away from the inviting solace of his reverie.

 

"You…you were telling me about some shortcuts I should take?"

 

Coming more out of his rapturous daze, Roy begins to realize that he had stopped in mid-sentence while instructing Havoc to take the shortcuts he was well acquainted with.  Recollecting his thoughts, Roy turns to glower out into the murky night— and there it is again! As his seat-belt rubs against his cheek, he catches that unmistakable balmy scent once more.  Desperately hopeful that the aroma will not escape him again, Roy anxiously closes his eye and inhales greedily.

 

The sound of falling rain and the constant roar of the engine begins to fade as his head swims from the distinct blended fragrance of sunflowers, leather, and machine oil which lingers on the seat-belt.  Every breath fills Roy with a thrilling euphoric warmth, fueling his consciousness with vivid images of brilliant red and gold, of honeyed skin and glinting metal, of a defiant gaze and a roguish grin.  So clearly Roy can hear the tell-tale clap of flesh against metal, feel the static tingle from the escalating charge of energy in the air, and taste the oxidized tang of alchemy as it erupts in streams of blue and white reflected in two gleaming golden eyes. _Oh God, those eyes!_ Like two entrancing golden windows to an extraordinary soul and mind far older than the youthful face they belong to.  Knowing eyes that have seen unimaginable spectacles and horrors of which most mortals do not even face in their darkest of dreams.  Oh, and how those eyes  _burn._   Burn with a fire hotter, fiercer, and more wild than any flame Roy could bring forth into this world.

 

 

 

_"Tell me, what do those eyes of yours see now, Fullmetal?"_

 

 

 

"So…about those shortcuts, Sir?"

 

Jean Havoc watches as Roy Mustang blinks dazedly, and leans his face into his seat-belt, forehead resting against the cool glass of the window.  He looks less like a 32-year-old General and more like a sleepy child stuck on a long car ride.  Then Roy closes his eye, sighs deeply, and answers in a hushed far-away tone,

 

"Take me the long way home."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I elongated my lift home  
> Yeah, I let him go the long way 'round  
> I smelt your scent on the seat belt  
> And kept my shortcuts to myself


End file.
